From February 7th through 18th, a group of soul seekers will travel in India to experience the land of Mahatma Gandhi through Jungian lens of Analytical Psychology. This experience is sponsored by the New York Jung Foundation. For the next several days, the faculty member of the group, Jungian Analyst Ashok Bedi and a Depth Psychotherapist Dr. Robert J. Jakala will compose a daily blog of their reflections about the experience. Other group participants have been invited to contribute to the blog and may join us from time to time. We are glad to share our experiences and reflections. Enjoy!

By B.J.Jakala

The Blackbuck National Park road sign

The Blackbuck National Park provides signage to remind the human population the animals were here first. A similar sign might be on the Natural Dream Preserve: Images have the right of way.

In my waking life, my ego attaches to philosophies, laws, ethics, and cultures to help it identify and define itself. The familiar dictates the right of way and the unfamiliar often challenges its boundaries In my dream life, I have the opportunity of all possibilities: rules of consciousness need not apply in the dream. The dream is a way for my soul to provide images in situations (stories) that instruct the ego about the true destination.

BJ Jakala, PhD is a participant in this year’s Journey to the Land of Gandhi through the Jungians Lens led by Dr. Bedi.

Reflections by Ashok Bedi

In human consciousness, our outer ego attiute always attempts to claim the right of first passage. However, for optimal physical, mental and spiritual health, we must cultivate a respect for INTERIORITY and a reflective attitude that makes room for the whispers of our soul, for these thoughts, feelings, images and intuitions that wander in like the magnificent animals in the park. They look intrusive at the first take, but if we take time to attend to them and reflect on the purpose of their visit into our consciousness, they are just the prescription we need to restore our connection with our soul, with our deeper nature and the myths and symbols that guide us. Carl Jung’s paradigm was that for ideal mental health, there must be a democracy between the Ego and the Soul and tyranny of neither.

Join us often to share in our experiences and images as we engage the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi’s India with our Jungian peers.

NAMASTE

Ashok Bedi is a Diplomat Jungian psychoanalyst and a board certified psychiatrist. He is a member of the Royal College of psychiatrists of Great Britain, a Diplomat in Psychological Medicine at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of England, and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

He has been a Psychiatrist in Milwaukee since 1976 and now practices Adult Psychotherapy and Jungian Psychoanalysis (www.tulawellnessllc.com). He is a Honorary Psychiatrist at the Aurora Psychiatric Hospital and the Aurora Health Care Network. He has been a psychiatric consultant to several agencies in Metro Milwaukee. Presently he is the consultant for the Sexual Assault treatment center at the Aurora Sinai Samaritan Hospital, Dewey Center at the Aurora Psychiatric Hospital for treatment of Addictions and the Pastoral Counseling Services of Greater Milwaukee.

Trained in India, Great Britain and the US, he is interested in the emerging frontiers of Spirituality and Healing and the synapses of the Mind, Body, Soul and Spirit. He is author of several books including- Crossing the Healing Zone: From Illness to Wellness, Nicholas Hayes Inc. 2013, Path to the Soul, Weiser Books, 2000, Awaken the Slumbering Goddess: The Latent Code of the Hindu Goddess Archetypes, Booksurge Publishers, 2007, and the coauthor of Retire Your Family Karma, Nicholas-Hays, Inc. 2003, These and his other upcoming presentations can be previewed at his website www.pathtothesoul.com

He is the liaison person for the International Association of the Analytical Psychologists for developing Jungian training programs in India (www.iaap.org). He travels annually to India to teach, train the consult with the Jungian Centers that he led in establishing at several cities in India including Ahmedabad, Mumbai & Bangalore. He leads the annual “A Jungian Encounter with the Soul of India” study group to India under the auspices of the New York Jung Foundation.

He is the Co-Founder of the USA India Jung Foundation (www.uijf.org). The USA India Jung Foundation promotes educational and clinical activities in India and USA based on the principals of Carl Jung’s analytical psychology and Eastern spiritual and healing wisdom and traditions. It fosters clinical, medical, and educational exchange between professionals of the United States and India. These activities include educational activities directed both to professional and lay organizations in both countries to promote mental health education and prevention activities based on principals of analytical psychology and Eastern Spirituality. To support this A 501(c)(3) Foundation and its charitable activities, kindly make your tax deductible contribution via the website: www.uijf.org